Monday, 1 August 2016

Learn more about a Death Claim in Insurance


Loss of a family member can be a real trying time. Multiple responsibilities and formalities need to be completed in short span of time. It is necessary to complete all the unfinished work left back by the deceased person and also, to take charge of the family members. One of the most taxing of all these responsibilities is to co-ordinate with the insurance companies for the claim amount. When the insured person dies before the maturity of his/her policy then the proceeds of life policy is to be claimed by his/her nominee. So, lets’ today discuss how we stay prepared in case of some similar situation. The process for online and offline policies is mostly same except where do we make the first call.

We will discuss the entire method in chronological order to understand it better: 

Call up your insurance agent /directly inform the Insurance Company

·         Inform the concerned insurance company about the details of death of insured person and provide them about the policy number, date of death and place of death.
·      In offline polices, there is a claim intimation form which needs to be submitted with the other set of documents. In online policy, you can submit the form online.
·       There is no specific time frame to intimate the company. Although it should be as early as possible. 

Who can claim for the policy proceeds? 

·   Any nominee or assignee can do this. In case if the policy has no nominee, then the legal heir or legal executor of estate can process it. Although, it doesn’t belong to him.

List of Documents to be submitted for claim
  • Filled-up claim form (provided by the insurance company)
  • Death Certificate
  • Original Policy document
  • Deeds of assignments of policy, if any
  • Legal title proof, if the policy is not assigned or nominated
  • Form of discharge executed and witnessed (in case of hospitalization)
In case of accidental death, the following additional papers need to be submitted:
·         FIR report
·         Post Mortem Report
·         Panchnama Report

How much time does it take to settle the claim?

As per IRDA norms, any claim should be settled in 15-30 days of receipt of complete required documents. In case of any clarifications or further probing, it should be completed in six months of receipt of claim. All the major payments are nowadays made in NEFT mode.

Where do we go to lodge a complaint – delayed payment or refusal of claim?

·         First Level of Complaint- Customer Care of Insuring Company.
·     Second Level - If the response of in house customer care department is not satisfactory then he/she may write to the Grievance Redressal Cell of IRDA, which then takes up the matter with the concerned insurer.

If even at this level, the customer is not satisfied, an Insurance Ombudsman will help them settle their complaints in an out of court system. It plays an role of an arbitrator. 

Some things to be kept in mind while making a death claim:

a)   Always pay your premiums on time to avoid policy lapse or refusal of death claim.
b)   While applying for life cover, always reveal true facts regarding your health, age and occupational hazards, if any.
c)   Also, keep ready the complete of required documents.

A detailed list of Insurance companies to understand their claim process in detail

Claims Procedure
website link
Aegon Life Insurance Company Ltd.
Aviva Life Insurance Co. India Pvt. Ltd.
Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company Limited
Bharti AXA Life Insurance Pvt. Ltd.
Birla Sun Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
DHFL Pramerica Life Insurance Company Limited
Future Generali India Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
HDFC Life
ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
IDBI Federal Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
Exide life Insurance Co. Ltd.
Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance Limited
Life Insurance Corporation of India
Max Life Insurance company Ltd.
PNB MetLife India Insurance Company Limited
Reliance Nippon Life Insurance Company Limited.
Sahara India Life Insurance Co, Ltd.

SBI Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
Shriram Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company Limited
IndiaFirst Life Insurance Company Limited.
Tata AIA Life Insurance Company Pvt. Ltd.

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